Vespa PX200 Scooter

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On 23rd April 1946, Piaggio filed a patent for “a motorcycle with rationally placed parts and elements with a frame combining mudguards and engine-cowling covering all working parts” thus giving birth to a new class of two-wheeled transport now known the world over as the scooter.

When the first Vespa (‘wasp’) was presented to the press at the Rome Golf Club later that year, the journalists were initially baffled by this pastel-coloured toy-like machine and it got a lukewarm reception at best. However, road tests were encouraging and sales began to take off with 2,500 sold by the end of 1947 and over 60,000 by the end of 1950. Then, in 1952, Audrey Hepburn was seen being whisked around Rome by Gregory Peck on a Vespa Faro Barosa in the film Roman Holiday and the rest, as they say, is history.

Over 100,000 were sold overnight as the public fell in love with this chic little runabout with its flat floor, comfortable saddle, low headlight and stylish leg guards that kept the road dirt off the tanned legs of the bella ragazze. In 1956 it lost some of its charm when the cute low headlight (‘Faro Baso’) was moved up from the mudguard to the handlebars but it continued to fly from the showrooms with over 2m sold by 1960 and over 10m by the late 1980s.

First registered in January 1990, this Vespa PX200 has the 197cc engine which produced around 10bhp and gave the scooter a top speed of 60mph. It has been in the current ownership since 2011, the vendor stating that it is in “very good condition but not perfect, some of the chrome has a little surface rust and there is a little rust on the bodywork”. It is showing 16,199 miles on the speedo which is believed genuine but there is insufficient history to warrant this. It comes with a V5C and one old MOT, the last MOT having expired in October 2012.